Groupon's EPIC social media usage

This is going to be a ridiculously quick one as I am absolutely drowning in revision for my Marketing Services exam on Wednesday...however after a little lot of procrastination, I came across this absolutely brilliant use of social media from Groupon, and I couldn't not share it!

Have a read through this post on Groupon's Facebook page- and their fantastic responses to comments!

Groupon had posted the product on social networks previously and had received endless comments regarding the products similarity to something else... and Groupon decided to act on these responses in the best way possible- by embracing them!
The comments went viral and in turn gave Groupon fantastic PR and showed a lighter side to the brand. This reminds me slightly of the Penguin's #YourMum campaign I posted last month, however I believe Groupon did a much better job of embracing comments which were designed to 'take the piss' in a tactful, funny and witty manner.
Apparently, Groupon assigned three social media employees out of five to respond to comments on the Banana Bunker thread- real commitment!! The posts brought the spotlight to Groupon's page and they sold all of the Banana Bunkers before the post started being shared online! What a great way to sell inventories without doing a boring sales promotion!

When marketers think outside the box, react to trends (especially online), interact with consumers and deliver humour specific to their own product- it clearly pays off! Whether than be with short-term, fast sales or when building long-term relationships!

More posts once my exams are done!

Wish me luck,

Stephanie

Penguin books #YourMum twitter backlash!

We all love a good Twitter highjacking story! However, this time the brand highjacked is a little surprising... Penguin Books- the publishing company we all remember from childhood, attempted to get #YourMum trending on twitter based on books their mum would like to receive for Mothers' Day.

In principal, it's a pretty simple campaign with not much potential and is almost a bit dull and samey...however, the campaign took an interesting twist...

We all remember Your Mama jokes from the playground... and it seemed the Twitter community found it hilarious to relive their youth and tweet Penguin with endless jokes, totally hijacking Penguin's lovely intentions with crude jokes.

 

So @PenguinUKBooks is using the hashtag #YourMum for their Mother's Day campaign. It's almost too easy. Much like #YourMum
— Dan Northcote-Smith (@D_NS) March 10, 2015

And then more brands jumped on the bandwagon!

Give #YourMum a break. Get the #pizza in tonight. pic.twitter.com/y0crdfeAwX
— Domino's Pizza UK (@Dominos_UK) March 9, 2015

@PenguinUKBooks You're braver than we are, Penguin.
— Waterstones (@Waterstones) March 9, 2015

 However, despite the totally highjacking of the campaign- I actually believe Penguin did a great job and spread much faster than had the campaign not gone viral- even if the reason behind doing so wasn't their original intention. Everyone was talking about Penguin and it got the Twitter community talking about literature- a great result for Penguin in my opinion!

 

As much as I loved @PenguinUKBooks #YourMum, I think I would have gone with #WordToYourMother...
— Daisy Buchanan (@NotRollergirl) March 10, 2015

 Penguin handled their response to the highjacking excellently, remaining calm, professional and taking it lightheartedly, which actually made some question whether that was their intention all along! I don't believe Penguin could have predicted that reaction, nor could anyone else. However, it is a lesson to brands in the future who need to be extremely careful when selecting hashtags and content which has the potential to go viral for the wrong reasons.

 

I think overall the campaign was great PR for the brand and has shown their personality slightly more than I have ever seen!

 

Steph



Prankvertising

NEW FAVE MARKETING STRATEGY GUYS!!!

Prankvertising is absolute genius!

Have a watch of this:

This was a stunt performed by the team behind a new release film 'Carrie' in order to promote their movie. The video has over a million hits on youtube- not bad at all!

LG also used prankvertising-  this is the best example I've seen so far!

It's also been used in social marketing too- which personally I think it can make a BIG impact!
Check out this prankvertising video by THINK- a drink driving campaign charity.



Companies are always looking for ways to make their brand go viral- this is a perfect way to do it, so easy for these clips to be shared and reshared!

If companies want to join on the prankvertising bandwagon and stand out they best had do fast!!!